Search: Ursula King

Ursula King, PhD, Teilhard de Chardin’s biographer, has included several pages about Awakening the Energies of Love in a new collection. The following quote is condensed from a longer discussion in her chapter:

“My own thinking on nurturing a different kind of love, a love deeper, richer, more inclusive and accepting of differences, a love that empowers, transforms and creates new possibilities has been much influenced by the ideas of four different people who have given us new metaphors and ideas about love for our time. Two are women [Beverly Lanzetta and Anne Hillman] and two are men [Teilhard de Chardin (1881-1955), and Pitirim A. Sorokin (1889-1968). These four possess considerable originality and have been particularly important for me. . . .

Anne Hillman is an American writer whose book, Awakening the Energies of Love: Discovering Fire for the Second Time, provides an extraordinary inspiration for learning to love in a new and different way. A former consultant to organizations, she is deeply interested in the internal aspects of social change, and how spiritual awakening can contribute to fundamental changes in our culture.

Hillman’s pioneering work deserves another essay by itself, but I can only provide a few key ideas and quotations here. Her emphasis is on the need for a new awakening now. She traces this process in an evolutionary framework by following the rise of consciousness within the development of humanity, and within each person, and then follows the different changes and learning curves that accompany this profound transformation. For Hillman, those whose awakening makes them increasingly transparent to the mystery of love are lights, carriers of fire and conduits of power. Her book overflows with amazing insights, deep wisdom, and an energy of light and fire that can kindle a new kind of love if we are attentive and willing to receive its sparks.” *

Teilhard de Chardin’s biographer Ursula King, PhD, Professor Emerita of Theology & Research studies, now Senior Research Fellow at the Institute for Advanced Studies, University of Bristol, England. Ursula has not only given me much of her time and passion for Teilhard, she has tirelessly written, taught, and lectured about her perceptions of Awakening the Energies of Love.

Dr. King’s publications include: The Search for Spirituality: Our Global Quest for a Spiritual Life; Women and Spirituality: Voices of Protest and Promise; Feminist Theology from the Third World: A Reader; Religion and Gender; Spirit of Fire: The Life and Vision of Pierre Teilhard de Chardin; Teilhard de Chardin and Eastern Religion: Spirituality and Mysticism in an Evolutionary World, and Christian Mystics: Their Lives and Legacies Throughout the Ages.

An entirely new Intelligence has been blinking in and out of human existence for thousands of years. This astonishing gift has emerged from the immense creativity of the universe and is now becoming stabilized in increasing numbers of people the world over. I call it the emergent consciousness of Love. Such a consciousness is not a different way of thinking; it is a radically different orientation–to everything. Our work is to cooperate with it. This is not a self-help book. Nor is it a book about religion. It is an experiential inquiry into a consciousness of Love that honors all persons and all spiritual paths. If you love Life–all of life; if your intention is to serve Love, whatever it asks of you, Awakening the Energies of Love will help prepare you for its power and provide a pathway into the most significant transformation humanity has ever undergone. The thread that runs through the book and ties it together is story: personal, collective, and cosmic. These interwoven stories bring to life and create a hearth for the New Story inspired by Teilhard de Chardin, a cosmology developed by Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme, and which continues to evolve. In a sense, it’s a story that, until now, has been told only in part: through geology, anthropology, physiology, psychology, archeology, architecture, and religion. Together, these disciplines are like tributaries feeding a great river of human knowledge summarized in the first half of the book: The Known. But to be complete, the New Story requires the fundamental change of mind and heart that comes with the inexpressible gift of awakening to the energies of Love. This begins the focus of the second half of the book, The Unknown. The remaining chapters explore the qualities and the consequences of living with the kind of love, compassion, and truth illuminated by the world’s great spiritual masters of every era–and to learn what Teilhard meant when he wrote, “for the second time in the history of the world, humanity will have discovered Fire.”

Anne Hillman completes Teilhard de Chardin’s work by providing the next step, a pathway into the most significant transformation humanity has ever undergone. She shows how what he called the energies of Love can ignite us, and once we have caught fire, how to embody its ‘200,000 volts’ in our lives. BRIAN SWIMME, PhD, astrophysicist, cosmologist. The Universe Story; The Powers of the Universe; The Earth’s Imagination. http://www.brianswimme.org

Anne Hillman puts flesh on the larger view that we live immersed in a sea of energy beyond all comprehension, and that it is ours, not by domination, but by invocation. THOMAS BERRY, CP, Geologian, historian of cultures. The Great Work; The Dream of the Earth; The Universe Story. http://www.thomasberry.org/

A work of great beauty, a clarion call! I know of no one else who has tackled our vital need for awakening to the transforming powers of love as thoroughly as she has. This pioneering work strikes the right note for which many people are waiting. Let us hope that it will be widely read. URSULA KING, PhD, Teilhard de Chardin’s biographer. Spirit of Fire: The Life and Vision of Teilhard de Chardin; Spirituality and Society in the New Millennium.http://www.une.edu.au/dreaming04/king.html

Few of us know what it is to be claimed by Love, not as an obsession with another, but taken hold of, shaken, brought to our knees in awe and gratitude, and eventually strengthened. This is love as Fire, and the core of what this book is about. From the Foreword by RICHARD MOSS, MD, author, The Mandala of Being. http://www.RichardMoss.com

Your writing and deep feminine insights have opened doors long closed: particularly, rekindling my early love for Teilhard de Chardin, but from a whole new place. The Rev. CYNTHIA BOURGEAULT, PhD, Episcopal priest, contemplative, teacher Centering Prayer and Inner Awakeningcontemplative.org

Masterful! Reading this inspiring book is like breathing a fully conscious breath that invites deep attention and radical aliveness. ELLEN GRACE O’BRIAN, Founder and Spiritual Director, Center for Spiritual Enlightenment, Kriya Yoga lineage. Living the Eternal Way: Spiritual Meaning and Practice for Everyday Life; A Single Blade of Grass: Finding the Sacred in Everyday Life. http://www.CSEcenter.org

It is always a joy to see love taken out of the small enclosure of personal relationships where our Western culture has trapped it, into the real arena of the heart which includes all of creation. Through Anne Hillman’s voice, we can feel the deeper currents of this primal power that both makes and unmakes us, and that leads us to the depth of being and beyond. LLEWELLYN VAUGHAN-LEE, PhD, Sufi teacher and author. Working with Oneness; Traveling the Path of Love. http.//www.goldensufi.org

In a simple and direct way, Anne articulates the core hunger to be awakened in us by the mystery of love, and her own journey becomes a model of fidelity to the process. I will recommend this book to all my directees! DON BISSON, FMS, Marian brother. Conference leader, Spirituality and Jungian psychology. http://www.DonBisson.org

Fire, indeed! Led by visionaries like Pierre Teilhard de Chardin, we are piecing together a radiant new/old vision of human be-ing itself, and Awakening the Energies of Love will add real momentum to that holy work. CAROL LEE FLINDERS, PhD, Lecturer and author, Enduring Lives: Portraits of Women and Faith in Action. http://www.tworock.org

In a lifetime of prodigious reading, I recall only once on completing the last page of a book, that I immediately turned to the first page and continued to read again: Awakening the Energies of Love. Anne’s has been the fundamental grounding and guiding voice in my recent journey, one that affirms and enlivens my own inner knowing—grounding, challenging, and reminding me of what the real work is. GRANT JAHNKE, PhD, Organizational consultant and psychotherapist.

If you are interested in the deeper implications of dreams and dreaming, do not miss this book! Anne Hillman’s examples and understandings as she traces several paths of awakening are most illuminating. JEREMY TAYLOR, DMin, Unitarian Universalist tradition. Dream Work; The Living Labyrinthhttp://www.jeremytaylor.com

The difference between a martial artist and someone focused on self defense is love. For the martial artist, to receive a blow is an opportunity to say ‘yes’ and ultimately, to love, not fear the attacker. Anne Hillman understands this and with a story teller’s beauty, writes of this journey from one to the other. RICHARD FARMER ,Tai ChiMaster. Founder and principle Instructor of the international Rising Dragon Tai Chi School. http://www.risingdragontaichi.com/index.html

Awakening the Energies of Love is not intended to give an academic rush. But if you read it with an open spirit so that you can sense what comes through its pages, you will be buoyed up, an updraft that is real, immediate, and quite abiding. BILL KUEPPERS, PhD Transpersonal psychology. Radicalauthenticity.com

Anne Hillman is like a master gardener who first prepares the ground so that what already lies deep and waiting to grow is given the opportunity to thrive. MARIGOLD FARMER, International conference and retreat organizer. http://www.soulmoves.co.uk

An entirely new Intelligence has been blinking in and out of human existence for thousands of years. This astonishing gift has emerged from the immense creativity of the universe and is now becoming stabilized in increasing numbers of people the world over. I call it the emergent consciousness of Love. Such a consciousness is not a different way of thinking; it is a radically different orientation–to everything. Our work is to cooperate with it. This is not a self-help book. Nor is it a book about religion. It is an experiential inquiry into a consciousness of Love that honors all persons and all spiritual paths. If you love Life–all of life; if your intention is to serve Love, whatever it asks of you, Awakening the Energies of Love will help prepare you for its power and provide a pathway into the most significant transformation humanity has ever undergone. The thread that runs through the book and ties it together is story: personal, collective, and cosmic. These interwoven stories bring to life and create a hearth for the New Story inspired by Teilhard de Chardin, a cosmology developed by Thomas Berry and Brian Swimme, and which continues to evolve. In a sense, it’s a story that, until now, has been told only in part: through geology, anthropology, physiology, psychology, archeology, architecture, and religion. Together, these disciplines are like tributaries feeding a great river of human knowledge summarized in the first half of the book: The Known. But to be complete, the New Story requires the fundamental change of mind and heart that comes with the inexpressible gift of awakening to the energies of Love. This begins the focus of the second half of the book, The Unknown. The remaining chapters explore the qualities and the consequences of living with the kind of love, compassion, and truth illuminated by the world’s great spiritual masters of every era–and to learn what Teilhard meant when he wrote, “for the second time in the history of the world, humanity will have discovered Fire.”

Awakening the Energies of Lovewas inspired by these beautiful words:

Someday, after mastering the winds, the waves, the tides, and gravity,
we shall begin to harness the energies of Love, and then,
for a second time in the history of the world,
humanity will have discovered Fire.~ Pierre Teilhard de Chardin ~

Dear Friends, There is something in the air, a quickening, do you feel it? I find myself looking with amazement at the events we’re experiencing together on this planet, and at the same time, am aware of the fullness of life: not just days filled with activities, but days that are rich in the quality of interactions with others; the sudden political shifts in the Middle East; and the sheer majesty and power of nature’s wildness. A friend wrote: “I’m feeling a huge surge of conscious energy in the world in the last month or two. Do you? I felt it listening to a speech recently: that life was not about how much money, or power [or safety] we have, but how we have loved. More and more, I hear people expressing empathy, feeling greater compassion. . . It’s like an evolving that is almost palpable.”
Another wrote: “It’s like a convergence of time and place, a rhythm playing itself out. Still, people’s expectations can be quite different. Some may be afraid for the planet, for democracy, or for the world’s economy with good reason, but reason is not all.My imagination tells me that perhaps we’re thinking too small: that the confusion,even chaos, we may be inwardly experiencing holds the seeds of something very new and that we need to open ourselves to possibility, what has never happened before.

To sustain an essentially outward focus on the violent swings in politics, or economics, or the weather, is to miss the deeper movement, one that promises great creativity. For if we are aspects of the universe, we reflect its creative unfolding. Each new emergence in its long existence, galaxies and oceans; the evolution of living things; social changes like the black or women’s movements or the colliding forces in our world today, was born of a gathering energy: a current of creativity and destruction. To the degree that we can contain both dimensions of these fierce cosmological energies in ourselves, we will begin to shine like the sun. In any moment, we have a choice: either to fight the Current that is pulling us along or to ride it, to wait and wonder if what we’re experiencing is a creative opportunity awaiting us; to listen within for the leading edge of what most profoundly inspires usâ€”and attempt to reflect it in who we are and what we do.

Every time we honestly embrace both sides of an issue within ourselves instead of making another wrong, we cooperate with life’s painstaking work of testing and integrating new forms, in this case, the gradual shaping of the human mind. Each inner embrace adds more light to life’s deep need for it at this Time.